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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26004460">Avatar Zuko [Rewritten]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowezrogers/pseuds/snowezrogers'>snowezrogers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Avatar Zuko AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:01:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,306</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26004460</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowezrogers/pseuds/snowezrogers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Avatar is peace, light, hope. 100 years ago, the Avatar, the one meant to restore balance, an airbender girl named Xiu-Mei, was killed in the massacre of her people leaving the only surviving airbender, her best friend and spiritual partner on her Avatar journey, Aang, encased in ice to protect him and hopefully save the next Avatar when someone found Aang in the ice. But the Avatar cycle goes on, and it has passed through the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe with young deaths as a result of the war. It leaves the burden of restoring peace on a sixteen year old firebender named Zuko. When he finds out what he is, can Zuko truly save the world?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Realization</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Zuko's hair was cut after he left the Fire Nation so his hair is fluffy and messy like season 3. Ozai did it as secondary punishment for being such a 'disgrace of a son' before he banished him.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Training was never easy, not since he lost his left eye or, more easily explained, lost sight in his left eye, as the eye was still there but the sight had been burned away from it. His depth perception was awful to nonexistent since ‘the accident’ as he referred to it but his uncle knew it was no accident and he hated that he knew it wasn’t an accident.</p><p>His hair had grown scruffy and scraggly and he would be near unrecognizable if he were to step foot in the Fire Nation again, not that he would ever do so. Iroh called for him to do his spar again, repeat the action and he was about to when the boat suddenly turned far too quickly, leaning the boat. Zuko’s immediate reaction was to grab onto the wall of the deck but he saw his uncle lose his grip on the other side of the deck and he fell into the cold southern ocean water.</p><p>Zuko’s brain raced and immediately reminded him his uncle couldn’t swim, making his new reaction to release the wall and jump in after him. Once he hit the water, he belatedly realized he couldn’t swim either but he felt adrenaline racing and he somehow managed to get to the surface with his uncle, both cough out water that had filled their mouths.</p><p>Zuko felt an unfamiliar sensation race through his veins as he attempted to get them to shore but was ultimately failing until the feeling happened. Their landing on the icy land was sudden and Zuko realized that he’d airbended them to shore, that he had airbended. His heart nearly gave out upon the realization.</p><p>“Zuko, How did you get us here? You can’t swim, nephew.” Iroh asked him.</p><p>“I um..air-ahh-adr-adrenaline.” He lied stammering but Iroh seemed to accept that and let him calm down. The boat slowly came to them and got them back onboard. A couple days passed and Zuko realized that Iroh knew he had airbended and he locked himself in his room and cried. He couldn’t be the Avatar. He tried to focus on firebending but he simply made the tapestries flap with wind.</p><p>He sobbed into his knees, holding his doll that his mother had made and given to him, that had been sewn back together endless times because of Azula and his father. He was a traitor to his own nation. His uncle would take him back home as a prisoner and then he would be tortured into the Avatar State until he could be killed to end the Avatar cycle. Upon realization that he was truly the Avatar, he lost temporary control and destroyed everything in his room with a scream.</p><p>He released a destructive blast of air, tossing and upending everything and throwing everything at the walls with his air subsequently making spheres around what he treasured unwittingly to save them. Then came the nearly catastrophic blast of fire that turned it all to ash, not even lighting it aflame, but scorching it all to immediate ash.</p><p>Shaking, he wrote a letter to his uncle, gathered into a bag all the gold, silver, and copper he could. He looked at the doll, Roku. He clutched Roku close and he took the doll with him. and then left to the nearest land. He didn’t want to hurt his uncle, not the last person who cared about him. He fled the ship mourning that he may never see his uncle again. He ran to the closest place, the Southern Water Tribe.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Southern Water Tribe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Zuko's left his uncle in hopes that it would mean Iroh's safety from him and how destructive he's gotten with his bending. Things really just never do work out the way he plans them.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Getting ashore was easy, with their earlier inconvenient stop to take back aboard him and his uncle. He'd miss Iroh. He needed to protect him, but his uncle was the only person to truly care for him after his mother left, died, whatever she'd done. He was sure he'd never forgive her for what she'd done anyway, leaving him to his hateful, abusive father and his sister who only tormented her brother.</p><p>Deciding against going to the village nearby, Zuko began to trek to the Fire Navy ship that was stuck within the ice. It would be a fine shelter, he knew well to avoid traps that would set off. He settled his few belongings onto the floor of the ship, his doll of Roku, the few dagger's he'd taken, and the satchel full of all the money from his part of the storage in the room next to his own on his and Iroh's ship. He'd emptied his portions but left his uncle his own. He could survive like this.</p><p>All he had to do was fish and hunt, that seemed easy enough. He went out late, nearing high moon and he caught a few fish to take back. He was used to cooking, he'd done it a lot on his and Iroh's ship to calm down and plenty of times had they cast a net and caught fish for dinner rather than waste money. Zuko may have been raised rich but Iroh had encouraged him to live as much of a normal life as he could, lessons in sewing and cooking and hunting and fishing and making his own clothes.</p><p>After he ate, he fell asleep leaning against the wall only to be awoken the next morning to hear feet padding around on the ship and then a large bang suddenly forced him awake. He grabbed a dagger and took down the first moving thing he saw, a person that was shorter than him by at least eight inches.</p><p>The blade was against the twelve year old's throat. He was about to draw it away but a tendril of water threw him back against the gears. His dagger fell next to him and he looked at the Water Tribe girl that had waterbended at him. She looked younger than him, but older than the younger boy. She was more scary than the boy.</p><p>"Katara! You could've hurt him!" Came the boys response. Zuko was busy slowly inching his hand toward his belongings, ready to run.</p><p>"He was holding a knife to your throat! Would you rather have wanted me to let you die, Aang!?" She, Katara snapped at the boy, Aang.</p><p>"He's probably just scared, 'Tara." Aang told her.</p><p>"He's a firebender, Aang!" Katara snapped.</p><p>"I don't think he is. He would have defended himself by now." Aang told her.</p><p>"He probably just can't! It's cold and he's not wearing his armor!" She bit out and Zuko flinched at her deadly tone, fingers finally gripping his dagger to put it against his side.</p><p>"Then why don't we ask him?" Aang recommended to her. They both looked to him with the unspoken question.</p><p>"I um...I'm not a firebender. I mean...my father was but I'm not. I'm an airbender." He easily concealed his lie in his already prevalent nervousness of having been attacked with water.</p><p>"An airbender!? What a lie!" Katara snapped at him. He resheathed his dagger against his waist in its holder.</p><p>"I'm not lying. My mother was a nonbender and my father was a firebender. I was a nonbender for years but I learned airbending." It really wasn't all a lie, he'd just left out that he had been a firebender. He needed time to think about this and a few hours was definitely not enough. Maybe they'd leave him alone to think and he'd tell them one day that he was the Avatar.</p><p>"How are we supposed to believe you?" Katara asked.</p><p>"I'm not trained so I'm not that good at it. I've only used it when I was scared but I can do this." He made the air around his hands spin a bit before fading it off weakly. Aang looked impressed.</p><p>"Another airbender! What are the chances!?" Aang excitedly hugged him and Zuko was taken a bit off guard by it but let him, albeit flinching away, which made the bald boy let go and pat his back instead.</p><p>"What <em>are</em> the chances? How did you get here?" Katara asked.</p><p>"The Fire Navy ship. My uncle is the General of the ship so he brought me with him. So I could be out of the Fire Nation and away from my horrible father. The crew didn't want me onboard anymore because I airbended and I didn't want to hurt my uncle, so I left and came here." He was decidedly telling them almost the whole truth, he didn't want to possibly lose their trust if they were to ever find out he was the Avatar.</p><p>"So, how long have you been here?" Aang asked.</p><p>"Less than a day." He told them.</p><p>"Well, we can't just let you freeze out here. Let's take you back to the village." Aang told him.</p><p>"Um..." He had no response for that.</p><p>"You could also come with us to the North Pole to find Katara a waterbending teacher." Aang offered.</p><p>"He'd have to meet Sokka. Sokka won't like him joining us." Katara warned Aang at the bald boy helped Zuko up.</p><p>"So, what's your name anyway?" Aang asked as Zuko picked up his doll and re-tied his satchel of money to his right waistband.</p><p>"My name is Lee." He told him.</p><p>"Okay, Lee. Let's go have you meet Sokka and then we'll head off." Aang told him, taking his hand and leading him to the village as Katara trailed behind, grumbling bitterly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Meeting Sokka</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Aang and Katara take their new friend back to the Southern Water Tribe. Zuko doesn't quite know how to feel about how they want him to join them. Does he stay in the Southern Water Tribe or go with them to find?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Upon arrival to the village, a boy Zuko's age came up and nearly smacked the firebender with a club. Zuko had, on instinct, dodged the blow and then, panicking, let his hands blow the boy away from him and onto the ground. His arms trembled with shock that he'd just defended himself, his eyes wide as he looked at his palms before bringing his arms up to his chest, hoping not to have hurt him.</p><p>The boy looked up at him from his new position on the ground, on his butt with his club having been sent a few feet away, disarmed. But, unfortunately, Zuko had also blown his Roku doll at him in his panic and it laid on the ground next to the Water Tribe boy.</p><p>"He's not a firebender, as you've seen. So how about we don't attack him?" Aang suggested the brunette boy. Zuko was busy trembling and hiding his hands against his chest, refusing to hurt someone again. He’d destroyed enough with his new ability already and he didn’t want to lose these people’s trust.</p><p>“How the…What the…another airbender!?” The brunette boy snapped at the bald boy, making Zuko flinch with his tone.</p><p>"He's going with us to the North Pole, Sokka." Aang told the Water Tribe boy as the brunette got up from the snowy ground.</p><p>"So. What's your name?" Sokka asked.</p><p>"My name is Lee." He told him. Sokka slung an arm around him, holding out his Roku doll for him.</p><p>"Really, Sokka!?" Katara asked angrily.</p><p>"Yup. Look at 'em. Couldn't hurt a fly. Look at this face." Sokka smushed his cheeks, making Zuko blush darkly at the touch. Sokka turned his face to look at Katara. She begrudgingly went to sit in a giant bison’s saddle. Zuko was amazed at the size of the animal. This thing had to have been at least ten tons. It licked him and left him speechless for a moment before he groaned, wiping his face off in disgust at the beast.</p><p>“C'mon. Let’s get on Appa.” Aang told him.</p><p>“What’s an Appa?” He asked.</p><p>“The bison.” Sokka told him and heaved a sigh as he picked up his club and led him to the bison, helping him up onto the saddle.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Zuko's Note</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Iroh finds the note Zuko left.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Iroh was worried, he had heard Zuko screaming last night and a lot of things being thrown. He hadn’t bothered him for worry that his nephew wasn’t having the best time reacting to the news of the Avatar. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to give him that look when he brought up capturing of the Avatar.</p><p>But, eventually he got worried that his nephew hadn’t come out of his room to eat. He found the door had been blown clean off its hinges and was lying against the opposite wall. He kicked the metal door out of his way and saw that the room had piles of ash, a few scattered things that had been spared from the blast, and a single letter. He picked up the paper and he read over it.</p><p>
  <em>Uncle Iroh,</em><br/>
<em>I need to leave alone. Please don’t try to find me. I promise I’ll not get hurt if it can be helped, so please don’t worry too much. I have to do this, I’ve become dangerous and I don’t want to hurt you. Please do not reveal my disappearance, I’m sure you understand what this is about and why I have to do this. I love you and I’ll miss you and I’m sorry that I have to leave. But I could never live with myself if I ever hurt you.</em><br/>
<em>Prince Zuko</em>
</p>
<p></p><div class="work">
<p></p><div>
<p></p><div>
<p></p><div class="chapter">
<p></p><div class="userstuff module"><p>Of course he understood and he was slightly remorseful for having brought up capturing the Avatar, the way he’d said it probably prompted his nephew to panic and flee. He was kind of relieved that Zuko was likely in hiding so that he wouldn’t be caught by the Fire Navy and brought back as a traitor. He knew what would happen if people in the Fire Nation found out their own former Prince was the Avatar.</p><p>He picked up his nephew’s old many-times repaired doll his mother had given him as a child. It was one of the few things in the room that wasn’t burned to ash and he guessed it must have been protected in some way or had been on Zuko’s person when the ash-making blast had been released.</p><p>He saw a few other things that had obviously been protected from the blast, obviously having been encased in air previous to the blast and he had to wonder how his nephew had learned airbending so quickly but guessed it had been his bending incidentally saving many of his most cherished items. He could see Pai Sho cards that he’d given him on his fourteenth birthday, the hooks that had previously held his dual dao swords, and this doll of Avatar Kyoshi from the matching set with Roku.</p><p>He must have figured to leave it as something for him to have left of him. He held it to his chest protectively, he would protect this little piece of his nephew he had left and he would leave him to protect himself for now, he would obviously receive his nephew back when the time came that Zuko was ready and able. But, for now, he would cherish what he had left of him and hope to Agni that he came home to him safe.</p></div></div></div></div></div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Southern Air Temple</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The travel to the Southern Air Temple brings realizations to the Gaang. Zuko reveals some of his past and Sokka has a life crisis.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka looked around at the the people in Appa's saddle. Lee was sitting the furthest from from Katara on the saddle. After a half an hour, he got bored enough he began talking to the raven as the raven played with his doll.</p><p>"So Lee, why'd you take a doll with you when you left with your uncle?" Sokka asked. Lee looked up at him with big eyes and smiled softly.</p><p>"My Mom made it when I was a baby. Because my mother is related to Avatar Roku. She wanted me to be close to him since he passed before I was born so she made this." Lee told him as he played with Roku's hand.</p><p>"So why'd you leave the Fire Nation? Nobody told me." Sokka asked.</p><p>"My father was abusive toward my mother. My uncle found out he burned me and he turned his ship around and came back to get me." Lee explained.</p><p>"Your dad burned you?" Sokka was sure his horror had slipped into his voice. Katara looked slightly concerned now too and Aang was leaning his head back so his right ear was facing more toward them.</p><p>"My father's a big part of the Fire Nation. He took me into a War Council meeting with the Generals. They wanted to sacrifice an entire younger division recruits. They were my age then and they wanted them to die as a distraction. I said something, because I had to, that would have been my division if I wasn't my born into my family. The general whose idea it was forced me into an Agni Kai, a fire duel. But it was my father, not the general, I had to fight. Because I'd disrespected him more than the old general. My uncle had been set out to find the Avatar after the meeting so he knew I had an Agni Kai but he thought I'd win, because I'm really good at what I can do. I'm a gymnast and I'm skilled with blades, he didn't think I'd get hurt. When he heard my father had burned me, he turned around to come get me." Sokka was stunned, he couldn't speak for a second and Katara looked downright <em>pissed</em>.</p><p>"Why didn't your mother stop him!?" She asked, seemingly angry that he'd been that badly hurt by his own father.</p><p>"She left when I was eleven. Well, my father said she left. I still think he killed her." Lee looked sad. Dammit, he looked cute. Sokka was totally having a sexual identity fueled life crisis. He liked girl! GIRLS! But this boy was so cute he was ready to kiss him to make him feel better. He forced what little willpower he had not to do that and he brought Lee to his shoulder, rubbing his arm as a comfort.</p><p>"It's okay. Me and 'Tara lost our mom too." He tried to comfort him.</p><p>"Fire Nation?" Lee asked.</p><p>"Yeah. the Fire Nation killed her." Katara confirmed.</p><p>"I'm sorry...about what they've done. To all of you. You shouldn't have had to lose your mother." Lee apologized.</p><p>"Hey, it's not your country. You don't need to apologize to us. You're an Air Nomad, not a Fire Citizen." Aang assured the raven boy.</p><p>"I was born a Fire Citizen. I lived there for thirteen years." </p><p>"You are not a country, Lee. You don't have to apologize for what they've done, especially if it wasn't your fault." Sokka assured him. Lee was taking a drink of water from his own canteen.</p><p>"Regardless of what they've done, we're gonna find the Avatar and they'll restore balance." Aang told the raven. Lee choked on the water and coughed.</p><p>“Dude, don’t choke on water. How’s that gonna help us find the Avatar?” Sokka asked him as Lee slowly recovered from his coughing fit and glared at him. Oh, Tui and La, he looked hot when he was angry.</p><p>“Oh hush, Mister Boomerang.” Lee joked, smirking as he shoved him a little bit with his elbow.</p><p>“You’re one to talk, Air-Head.” Lee gave to laughter at that.</p><p>“No way, he’s Avatar Lee.” Katara told them and Lee looked a bit shocked at first.</p><p>“Huh?” The raven asked.</p><p>“Cause of your reaction to us trying to find the Avatar. We’ll call you Avatar Lee.” She explained.</p><p>Lee gave a small smile and he waited for their landing at the Southern Air Temple. A few minutes of awkward silence passed until they ascended and saw the Southern Air Temple. Lee looked amazed and Aang looked happy to be home. Sokka and Katara were on edge to have to tell Aang what happened to all the airbenders.</p><p>“This is the Southern Air Temple.” Aang seemed amazed.</p><p>“It’s beautiful.” Lee seemed to gaze at it, rising to his knees to look at the temple, amazed at it.</p><p>Sokka placed a hand on his upper back that kept a grip on the airbender to keep him from possibly falling out of Appa’s saddle. They landed with relative ease, allowing them all to descend off Appa’s saddle, Lee slipping and Sokka easily caught him, the smaller boy blushing furiously. If he wasn't having an identity crisis before, he definitely was now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. The Avatar Chamber</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>They've arrived at the Southern Air Temple. Aang really wants to visit the Avatar Chamber but it seems to have an adverse effect on Zuko.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aang was excited and he seemed to make a beeline for familiar places. One of which, was the air ball court. Of course, it was easier for airbenders to play but Sokka insisted on facing him first, only to fail and Zuko had immediately, fearful for his safety, cushioned his landing with air. Of course, that just made Sokka seem to remember that he was an airbender, untrained but still an airbender.</p><p>So it was his turn to face Aang. Fortunately, he had been heavily trained in balance, among other things, by his mother. He didn’t need airbending to be able to balance as well as Ty Lee, jumping easily from pole to pole and throwing blasts of air to keep the goal protected until he caught the ball, throwing it through Aang’s goal and leaping down to land easily on his feet with one hand to touch the ground, assuring himself he hadn’t fallen, calming himself.</p><p>“Geez, is the whole Fire Nation made of noodle people?” Sokka asked, immediately drenched with snow as Aang came down.</p><p>“No, my mother taught me when I was little.” He looked between the siblings suspiciously, they were obviously hiding something from him and Aang but also obviously deemed him less of a concern to whatever it was.</p><p>“Ya like the new waterbending trick, Aang?” Katara asked the airbender.</p><p>“That’s great, Katara. I do have one thing I wanna visit still.” Aang seemed to run to the center of the temple, body carrying him quickly to the large doors and it seemed that there were two locks on it. Lee pressed his hand to it when he got there and the door seemed to budge a bit but also not, he felt drawn to whatever was inside.</p><p>“Me and Xiu-Mei were supposed to come here when she was ready. This is the chamber of Avatars. We never got to in.” Aang told him as the others finally caught up to them.</p><p>“Geez, you’re both fast for such tiny people. I’m too hungry for this.” Sokka complained.</p><p>“The shorter the faster and the less rations the more creatively you reserve your energy.” Zuko wasn’t lying. He’d never referred to it as rations but he used to always give at least half his portions to his uncle when they first set out on the ship, claiming he wasn’t hungry.</p><p>If only his uncle knew he’d just been destroying his own body from the inside out from trauma. Would Iroh still love him? He shook his head and looked at Sokka’s guilty look.</p><p>“Don’t give me that look. I’m still faster than you, ponytail.” He teased the Water Tribe boy. Sokka snorted laughter.</p><p>“This is a warrior wolf’s tail. Your hair just looks like someone dyed a mop black.” Zuko tangled his hand in his messy hair self-consciously.</p><p>“In a good way.” Aang added for Sokka. His hand released the hair and he turned back to the door that called to him.</p><p>“How do we get in?” Zuko asked.</p><p>“It takes two airbenders. I guess we’re lucky we found you.” Aang told him.</p><p>“Okay then.” He readied himself to throw air at the lock.</p><p>“On three. One. Two. Three!” And they both released a wave of air at the door, turning the locks and the door opened.</p><p>The room was dark beyond what Zuko could think but he’d already told them he was an airbender, he couldn’t use fire now. He and the other three walked into the room and Aang led them to a room of statues that was dimly lit by the sunlight outside of the open door. Zuko ran into something, no, someone.</p><p>“I’m sorry!” He sputtered an apology.</p><p>The last time he’d walked into someone important, he’d been smacked for his efforts to apologize. He expected a blow but looked up at the stone-faced statue of a remnant, passed-on, soul that surely had matched his own in life. It matched, as well did it match his eyes, familiar similarities, family. Avatar Roku.</p><p>His hand held the statue’s wrist, looking around the room at his past lives, everyone in this room, all those statues, every single one, was of him in different bodies. His soul called out to them, burning brightly.</p><p>“Avatar Roku.” He looked over the statues, removing his hand from the statue of the Avatar.</p><p>“How do you know that? There’s no name card.” Katara asked pointedly.</p><p>“Fire Nation history class.” He lied.</p><p>They never taught anything of the Avatar in the Fire Nation. Only that, if you were to turn up as the Avatar, both you and your parents were to turn themselves in under reasons of treachery and false loyalty. The fate that awaited was agonizing trials and pain and torture until the Avatar succumbed to their Avatar State and then Ozai would kill them, hopeful in ending the cycle.</p><p>Zuko shuddered, having to turn away from his great grandfather, body a little shaky. What if he was killed in his Avatar State, who would be the Avatar then? There was only one Air Nomad and Aang surely wasn’t having any children anytime soon. Or so he hoped, because that didn’t bode well for him either, successors to Aang could potentially be his next life.</p><p>Hopefully, there could be more Air Nomads in the next hundred years while the cycle went around again after his death. He had to shake his head again, looking at Sokka to clear his thoughts. Sokka dragged him behind the statues, him apparently having been too zoned out to hear their conversation.</p><p> </p>
<p></p><div class="userstuff module">
  <p>“Shh. Someone’s here.” Sokka obviously sensed he didn’t know what was happening.</p>
  <p>Aang peeked to see a lemur and chased after it, Sokka and Katara chasing him to try to keep him from seeing but Zuko ended up staring at his great grandfather’s statue again. He finally managed to look into the eyes and his locked on them, unable to move. He faintly, in his mind, likely from Aang, heard a despaired yell.</p>
  <p>For a second, he saw white eyes flash in front of him, no, thousands of eyes all turning white in his vision, body compelling fire to run through his veins like molten lava and his heartbeat thumping in his ears like a drum.</p>
  <p>He could <em>feel</em> his great grandfather trying to speak to him, trying to tell him something, that he couldn’t receive, couldn’t understand. Suddenly everything went dark and he fell down, the stone ground beneath him colliding with his side as he passed out.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Winning Affections</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lee somehow manages to win Sokka's heart without even trying aka he feeds him. Sokka doesn't even know how to process how cute Lee is.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they finally consoled Aang, they led him back to where Lee was in the Avatar Chamber still. It seemed they’d all left him there to continue with his intrigued study of the statues.</p><p>Finding him collapsed in front of the Roku statue was definitely not something they’d anticipated. It looked like some debris had flown here too from Aang’s emotional breakdown. None of it looked to have hit Lee but they all guessed it had somehow hit him in the head and made him collapse with a concussion.</p><p>“Hey, Lee. Lee, wake up.” Sokka shook the raven’s shoulder.</p><p>He gave a groan, waking up and he held his left hip, apparently that had hit the ground first and taken the most of the brunt of the fall. Lee pushed himself to sit up, other hand holding his head, eyes shut still and refusing to look at them. Finally, his gold eyes opened and he gazed up at them.</p><p>“What happened? I’m so sorry if I hurt you, Lee!” Aang hugged him.</p><p>“No, it wasn’t you. The spiritual pressure is just really strong in here.” He rubbed his left scalp with soreness from the fall, but thankfully, he didn’t seem too injured.</p><p>“Well you <em>are</em> right. It <em>does</em> feel like the pressure is stronger here. Maybe it’s the statues.” Aang told him, helping him up on his left side while Sokka helped his right. Sokka felt protective of the airbender, he was obviously weak and a bit hurt, he needed someone to look after him.</p><p>He helped him from the chamber, all four leaving it to let Lee recover. The airbender seemed to be getting better, all but his hip, however. But that just seemed sore too, and was obviously better the more he moved it and used it and wasn’t overstressing the muscle he’d hurt. Aang and Katara played air ball this time, Lee and Sokka sitting on the grass, watching.</p><p>“Do you think they’d mind if I looked around?” Lee asked.</p><p>“Why?” He asked the airbender.</p><p>“Food. You’ve been complaining nonstop, I figure shut your mouth with some food.” Lee told him, smiling broadly but also nervously. He was getting comfortable around people but he wasn't sure how to act.</p><p>“Nah, they wouldn’t mind. Just don’t get lost. Come back here after or I'm sure Aang might freak out that I lost you.” The raven nodded and set off the path on the left, slowly retraining the sore but thankfully healthy muscle in his left hip. An hour later, Lee came back with several things in his arms. He threw something round at him and he immediately caught it out of instinct.</p><p>“Found the kitchens and the gardens. That’s a pomelo by the way. They grew firebender fruit here. Who would have thought Air Nomads could simulate different climates?” He was smiling.</p><p>“What the hell’s a pomelo?” Sokka asked, peeling it curiously.</p><p>“A fruit. It’s like an orange but better. Don’t complain. I could have made you eat the durian fruit.” He showed him a large yellow fruit as Sokka took a curious bite of the fruit in his hands.</p><p>“Hey, I’m not a quitter. Let me try the other one.”</p><p>“Don’t complain to me then, water-boy.” He tossed the yellowy fruit at him. Sokka caught it easily. He used his dagger to cut open the durian fruit to come face to face with the yellow flesh.</p><p>“What? Scared?” Lee smirked, eyes smiling and Sokka, to all that knew him, was absolutely not one to back down from a challenge.</p><p>If anything, a cute boy staring him down to eat a fruit that intimidated him, yeah that was a challenge. He cut the piece sunk his teeth into the yellow flesh and was met with a bitter, sour taste in his mouth and immediately spit it out, spitting saliva in hopes the taste would go away. Lee took one of the unbitten pieces and bit into it easily.</p><p>“I told you. Water Tribe Boys can’t eat durian.” Lee teased.</p><p>“Well, Fire Nation Boys can’t eat sudachi.”</p><p>“I’m Air Nomad. But just the same. I don’t like Water Tribe food.” Lee finished his demon fruit.</p><p>“Smartass.” Sokka mumbled.</p><p>“Takes one to know one.” Lee sat back on the grass watching the game going back and forth until Katara and Aang finally both tied in a stalemate.</p><p>“Lee found the kitchens and gardens while you two were on your supervised date.” Sokka told them.</p><p>“Where are they?” Katara asked, blatantly mad. And then Lee did the unexpected again. He pushed upward with his hands and landed on his feet with only mild difficulty from his hip.</p><p>For a second, Sokka was sure that he was becoming a true demon like the fruit Lee had eaten with the way he’d been moving until he realized he was just a showoff. Katara rolled her eyes at the display and Aang snorted laughter at Sokka’s terrified yet shocked expression.</p><p>Lee made a small chuckle at his shocked expression too, already him and Aang leading each other to the kitchens and gardens, leaving Katara and Sokka to run to catch up again.</p><p>“Oh Gods, the kitchens smell heavenly.” Sokka drooled.</p><p>“I figured we’d all be tired and hungry after all that’s happened today. I started dinner before I left. It should be done in a few minutes.”</p><p>“Cooking’s a girl thing! You can’t cook!” Sokka protested.</p><p>“Eat dinner or go try to make something yourself. The gardens are out the door, to the left, down a bit.” Lee walked away from him into the kitchens from where they were in the mess hall.</p><p>Sokka was impressed with how easy he seemed to act naturally around him and the others, like the three years on a Fire Navy ship had never changed his personality to the meek and scared boy he’d seen him the day prior. Though, it occurred to him that Lee could just be scared of his bending being destructive.</p><p>“He needs to get a handle on that talk of his!” Katara raged.</p><p>“He’s fine. I think he’s just getting comfortable around us.” Sokka told her as much. She growled at him to be quiet.</p><p>“I made extra.” And the two big bowls of first pasta then a black and lumpy mix got set on the table. Sokka poked it with his spoon.</p><p>“What is that?” He asked.</p><p>“Zhajiangmian. Fire nation food. Thankfully the not hot kind. Made vegetarian for our airbender.”</p><p>“Waterbenders need meat, Lee.” Sokka complained. Lee raised an eyebrow. He bit his tongue, Spirits dammit, why was that cute!? “But it smells good. I’m eating.” He put some of the noodles into his bowl. He looked at the dark saucey substance oddly as to what he should do with it.</p><p>“You put the zhajiang overtop of the noodles and mix them.” Lee spooned the mix over his own noodles, mixing it together with his chopsticks. Sokka mimicked what he’d done and brought a the chopsticks to his mouth, tasting the food.</p><p>“That’s pretty good actually.” His mouth was full but he felt the need to say it, wanted to see Lee's reaction. Lee laughed at his face that was obviously covered with the sauce. His heart melted a little bit, Lee laughing made his heart skip. Lee sounded happy.</p><p>“Wipe your face. You look like a rabid wolfbat.” He laughed, having to stop eating for a minute. Sokka wiped his mouth clean and continued eating, teeth crunching into what he assumed were vegetables.</p><p>“Ya know, that’s a good way to get Sokka to eat vegetables, Lee.” Aang told the other airbender.</p><p>“It’s better than him wandering off and maybe getting hurt trying to fend for himself.” Sokka was busy spooning the vegetables from his bowl to his mouth, too satisfied with the food to care much about the conversation.</p><p>“Katara, why aren’t you eating?” Aang asked. Indeed, Katara hadn't so much as touched her bowl, let alone fill it and eat anything.</p><p>“I won’t eat Fire Nation food.” She told them bluntly, eyes shooting daggers at Lee.</p><p>“Technically, this is the Earth Kingdom recipe. It’s not spicy like the Fire Nation makes it and there’s no meat added in.” Aang told her. Lee had folded in on himself when she’d made the comment, he was busy quietly eating, refusing to look up from his bowl. He wasn't going to defend himself, he probably felt he deserved it.</p><p>“'Tara, you’ve gotta try this. It’s so good.” Sokka urged her.</p><p>“I’m not hungry!” She snapped. Lee flinched at the tone but continued eating, seemingly unwilling to look up at her. Sokka could spot his eyes getting glossy with tears that the airbender was obviously forcing down.</p><p>“Katara, you’re being too hard on Lee. He’s not even Fire Nation, he’s an Air Nomad. Don’t you think he’s probably struggling through this war too? This war’s been hard on everyone.” Sokka told her. Lee was staring at him, wide eyed and looking a bit scared on his part.</p><p>Was he scared of something happening simply because he was defending him from his sister? Maybe it was justified, his sister was scary and it seemed a feasible fear from what he'd heard Lee say about his father. Being around that abuse so long, he probably learned not to defend himself for fear it would lead to him being beaten.</p><p>“Fine, I’ll eat. But you better not be pulling anything, Lee.” Katara told him, finally spooning noodles and zhajiang into her bowl and eating.</p><p>“Good, Katara?” Aang asked.</p><p>She simply grumbled what sounded like a 'yes’ past her food. Sokka smiled at Lee as the raven continued eating, eyes a bit awestruck toward him. It wasn’t a problem convincing his sister to eat, he would have had to make her eat eventually.</p><p>Aang went back for a second bowl, commenting that it was just like Xiu-Mei made it. Sokka had ended up having two and a half bowls while Lee only finished one and Katara finished two. Plus Sokka got to sit next to a cute boy he very much wanted to kiss.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Getting Along</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lee gets his first airbending training lesson, Katara starts to trust Lee. Aang wants to stay at his home a few more days.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sokka woke up the next morning with a ache in his back from air ball with Aang and he woke up hearing Lee laughing at Aang’s joke he caught the end of 'Xiu-Mei said the walrus wanted to eat her, she swore by it’.</p><p>It dragged him out of bed and he debated a moment if they wanted time alone. So he decided to take a bath and clean off. After, he figured to head after them and see what they were doing. He found them in the kitchens with a net full of fish.</p><p>“Oh, hey, Sokka!” Lee greeted him between knife swipes to the beheaded fish, separating the filet from the bones.</p><p>“Convinced Aang to catch fish?” He asked.</p><p>“I thought you and Katara would miss home. I figured I’d make you jerky so you’re not so homesick.” Lee explained.</p><p>“I just helped catch them.” Aang told him.</p><p>“So you both left and Katara said nothing?”</p><p>“Katara’s still asleep.” Aang told him.</p><p>“Well, at least she’ll be happy to have Water Tribe food again.” Sokka told them.</p><p>“Well, Mister Water Tribe. Help me finish these and you’ll have your swordfishsalmon jerky faster.” Lee joked with him, handing him another knife.</p><p>“Aang, you condoned this?” Sokka asked as he began working the same way Lee was.</p><p>“Well, yeah. I mean…” Aang shrugged. “I’m vegetarian but I won’t stop any of you from eating meat.” Aang told him.</p><p>It was tedious but eventually they finished, it was a fish Sokka usually caught so it was easy to work with. Lee had several bottles on the stone counters. Sokka could recognize a few, soy and molasses, but not the rest. Once Lee had cut the fish into strips and had put it in the bowl to sit for a bit, Aang finally spoke again.</p><p>“You could make them faster with airbending, Lee.” Aang told the raven.</p><p>“I can’t use mine that well.” Lee told him.</p><p>“Well, let me and I’ll teach you.” Aang made a ball of air the size of the bowl, covering the fish to make it marinade quicker. “There. Now I can show you how to dehydrate them.”</p><p>He let them splat back into the bowl. Sokka watched intently. This was probably Lee’s first lesson in airbending, besides the ones he’d taught himself, which was doubtable that he ever really had taught himself anything.</p><p>“Okay. Hands like this.” Aang directed Lee’s hands to their places. “Now try to make a ball of air over the fish.” Aang told him. Lee’s hands slowly, almost fearfully, made a ball of air over the bowl of fish.</p><p>“Now, I want you to draw the air from them. Pull the air in them into the ball of air.” Aang instructed him. Sokka was a bit amazed at the way Lee caught on so quickly but he guessed Lee was used to having to catch on quickly, with being raised in the Fire Nation and all.</p><p>“Okay. Now drop the fish in here.” Aang held open a food pouch wide and Lee dropped the fish into the pouch. “Now let go of the air.” Aang instructed and the ball of air dropped, leaving a faint swordfishsalmon smell to the air. “See? You’re not bad. You caught on quicker than me. What were you so scared of?” Aang told him and Lee smiled a bit, cleaning up the dishes as Aang set the jerky on the counter.</p><p>“I just…I’m afraid it’ll be destructive. I’ve had my bending be destructive before. It’s scary when you can’t control what happens.” Lee looked a bit disheartened and Sokka frowned, he was too cute to look that sad.</p><p>“You did pretty damn good at controlling it now.” Sokka told him.</p><p>“Because I could focus it. Last time I couldn’t focus, I destroyed things. I…I turned everything in my room on the ship to ash. That’s why I left, I could have hurt people.” He told him.</p><p>"<em>Did</em> you hurt anyone?" Aang asked.</p><p>“No. I left before I could. I didn't want to hurt my uncle.” Lee was finally opening up more. Sokka wanted to jump on the opportunity but he knew that might scare him.</p><p>“It sounds like you and him were close?” Aang asked.</p><p>“He’s like a father to me, more so than my real father. I miss him, but I don’t want to hurt him with my bending. I’ll find him again when I won’t hurt him.” Lee assured them.</p><p>“So you lied to us to come with us? Why am I not surprised that the Fire Nation boy lied to us?” Katara appeared in the doorway.</p><p>“I didn’t lie. I didn’t tell you why I ran away from my uncle's ship.” Lee explained.</p><p>“Another Fire Nation lie?” She asked.</p><p>“I’m not lying. You just didn’t ask why I left the ship. I’ll tell you if you want but don’t assume you know my life!” Lee was beginning to get angry.</p><p>“Hey, calm down.” Sokka told him, hands gently coming to rest on the raven’s shoulders. Aang looked a bit unnerved by the way air was swirling dangerously around Lee's hands.</p><p>“Sorry.” He released the air, huddling his hands to his chest. “My uncle came back for me because my father had arranged my execution, he told me that when he found me. I hadn't fought back, of course I understood. Firebenders are so proud of their bending but I didn't use mine because it's air, I couldn't use it in front of the Fire Nation court. They’d wiped out anyone with airbending because, in the Fire Nation, you get killed if you’re the Avatar. They saw all of the Air Nomads as a threat to ending that cycle. Nobody is allowed to become the Avatar in the Fire Nation, you’ll be tortured however long and however the Fire Lord sees fit until you’re in the Avatar State and then he, personally, will kill you to end the cycle. Any airbender is another potential Avatar for them, another cycle around, and longer they need to worry about the Avatar trying to restore balance. Even if the last Air Avatar was killed, the cycle would only go the next three cycles. They only have so long they need to worry. Let alone that if the Water, Earth, and Fire Avatars following the Air Avatar could just be killed to end the cycle faster.” He took a breath, calming down. Sokka squeezed his shoulders to comfort. Katara still glared. This was useful information, they would possibly use it while searching for the Avatar.</p><p>“And that stupid Fire Navy ship?” Katara sneered.</p><p>“The day I left, his crew had said that I was a threat to the Avatar cycle because they were scared of me. They’d seen me airbending but I'm the son of a firebender, so of course they were. I only ever tried to practice in my room and that was even rare. But I’d gotten scared, we’d almost run into an iceberg because nobody was paying attention. One of them had pushed me off the deck to try to keep me away from the iceberg and Uncle jumped after me because he knew I can’t swim. I airbended us to shore and the crew saw me. When he got me back onboard, the crew tried to lock me in my room. I turned everything to ash with my bending because I was scared. I decided it was better to leave and keep him safe than stay and maybe hurt him. I was going to hopefully train myself better than to ever do what I did again.” Lee was trembling and he refused to look at them, he was scared, hands swirling air but he stopped them fearfully and held them close to his chest again.</p><p>“So you didn’t lie to us?” Katara asked.</p><p>“I didn’t lie. I was just scared and I was running to protect someone. I thought not telling you was fine until I could gather my thoughts. I still am I guess.” He told her, seeming to relax against Sokka’s hug. Aang joined in and then Katara, all hugging Lee tightly. "Okay, well me and Aang made you two swordfishsalmon jerky. I'll probably start cooking breakfast soon." Lee told the two siblings, holding out the pouch of jerky for them.</p><p>"Oh, I'll help." Aang told him, buzzing after the other airbender. Sokka looked at Katara, smirking.</p><p>"Starting to trust him yet, 'Tara?" He asked.</p><p>"I guess. Now, let me try the jerky." She grabbed the pouch from her brother and bit into a piece of jerky.</p><p>"You just like his cooking, don't you?" Sokka asked.</p><p>"...Maybe." She answered, a bit angry he'd figured it out. But at least she was starting to trust him.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Alone Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Aang has been training Zuko for three days, Zuko takes very quickly to airbending, so he decides to skip training for one day to spend some alone time in the Avatar Chamber to visit Avatar Roku. Things go incredibly wrong.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last week had been amazing, he and Aang had trained daily to the point of having both fallen asleep next to the training areas last night. Zuko had decided to take a day from training and stay in the Avatar Chamber alone, for some peace and quiet. He went up to his great grandfather's statue, setting his Roku doll beside the statue.</p><p>"Great Grandfather Roku. You passed this to me. What does it mean?" The ex prince asked the stone before him that beared a likeness similar to his own, older and wiser and more powerful.</p><p>Upon receiving no answer, he looked to Kyoshi. He decided a good pastime was to go through the statues rather than wait for an answer from his great grandfather, the last Fire Nation Avatar.</p><p>Maybe being more tired would help him visit the Spirit World faster, maybe it would focus him long enough that he could get an answer. He could spend hours naming them, all his past lives, and listing everything they'd achieved. He trailed his fingers over their hands as he went, naming them in his head.</p><p><em>Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, Yangchen, Ehasz, Salai, Mana, Iyokawa, Mazi, Yata, Kyba, Kai, Raizen, Yumi, Akana, Aratani, Seka, Nari</em> <em>…</em></p><p>And then the floor rose to the columns that had been made to hold all the Avatars, to keep adding the Avatars. Maybe one day he could have likenesses made of the three last Avatars, Xiu-Mei and the last two, the waterbender Avatar after her and the earthbender Avatar before him. He went to keep naming.</p><p>"Hey, Lee! What are you doing up there!?" Came Sokka's voice that made him nearly fall from the height he was at. Thankfully, he didn't hand immediately gripping the pillar and pulling himself back against the wall.</p><p>"Sokka? You could have made me fall!" He accused.</p><p>"Well, come back down here then and tell me what the Spirit are you doing?" Sokka told him. So he did, walking down all the way he came up, determining he'd finish this later when Sokka wouldn't get him possibly killed from falling.</p><p>"I was trying to remember their names. I got bored and couldn't focus. I think I'm probably tired enough now." He sat where his statue would be in the future, hopefully, closing his eyes only to have Sokka poke his head.</p><p>"Are you passing out again?"</p><p>"I want to see my great grandfather. He was the last known Avatar. Maybe he could help us."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"I need to talk to him."</p><p>He resettled himself and Sokka poked his head again. He shot a glare at him, hoping it was enough to keep the other teen from poking him again. Sokka dropped down next to him. It just wasn't working! Why wasn't this working!?</p><p>He felt Sokka's hand slowly inch against his own and their pinkies tangled together. As an immediate reaction, his pinkie closed around the other boy's and the Spirit World swirled around him for a few minutes. It was reds and blues and greens and yellows swirling around him. He could see Roku standing before him.</p><p>"You're not ready yet, Zuko." Came Avatar Roku's voice as the man smiled knowingly at him. "But you will be. You're not strong enough to maintain this connection for long. Go back to your friends." Roku told him warmly.</p><p>"I need to understand what's happening to me, Great Grandfather." Zuko really didn't want to plead but he truly needed to answer.</p><p>"In time, Zuko. You will. And you'll also be able to maintain this connection one day. But, for now, you're getting too weak. Your friend is worried. Go back to him." And then darkness swarmed him for a moment before he came back, eyes slowly opening to find his head in Sokka's lap with Aang checking on him.</p><p>"You woke up. You passed out again. You started turning grey." Sokka hugged him tightly.</p><p>"I saw him." Spirits, his throat felt raw, did he really turn grey? He'd been dying because of his travel to the Spirit World.</p><p>Sokka helped him sit up and he leaned heavily on the Water Tribe boy, unable to get up on his own. He felt very, <em>very</em> tired. He let Sokka help him stumble to his room. He fell asleep as soon as he felt the blankets over him.</p>
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